Critical Incident Response & Business Continuity: Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown Shootings (Part II) (Elizabeth Stevens, UnitedHealth Group)
When tragedy strikes a workplace, business leaders face a challenging array of demands. Leaders ask, “How can I support my employees? What does return to work and productivity look like? How long will it take? Is there more we can do?” Taking care of people and getting back to business don’t have to be mutually exclusive goals. This presentation examines the response of UnitedHealth Group to its own employees following two concurrent major disasters, Superstorm Sandy and the Newtown Shootings. Hear about the novel and innovative ways UnitedHealth Group integrated its Employee Assistance Program to support resilience and business continuity. Specific strategies to contend with significant communications and infrastructure limitations are shared, along with new applications that serve both on-site and telecommuting employee populations.
- Define and compare post-disaster BC and EAP response methodologies
- Learn how to support people when they're not at work
- UnitedHealth Group Case Studies: Hurricane Sandy & the Newtown Shootings
- this is either a stand-alone one hour or the second part of a 2-hour presentation
About Elizabeth Stevens

Elizabeth Stevens has focused her work on safety, security and preparedness. After graduating from Macalester College, Stevens spent 15 years at Northwest Airlines and held leadership roles across four divisions: inflight, ground, flight and security operations. During her aviation tenure, Stevens was an NTSB-trained accident investigator, designed aircraft parts and championed partnership programs with labor union and government representation. Stevens’ career itinerary has included other sectors along the way, including crisis management at Target, business continuity and crisis management at Ameriprise, and enterprise resilience at UnitedHealth Group. She is past president of the InfraGard Minnesota Members Alliance and past co-chair and advisory board member to the Cyber Security Summit.